Fastening devices for wearing apparel



H H. w oD 3,041,698 I FASTENING DEVICES FOR WEARING APPAREL July 3, 1962 Original Filed March 19, 1958 F/G/O H H Wood INVENTOR BY 6L; @kN4 -%u, ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,041,698 FASTENING DEVICES FOR WEARING APPAREL Herbert Howard Wood, Birmingham, England, assignor to Thomas Walker, Limited, Birmingham, England, a Eritish company Original application Mar. 19, 1958, Ser. No. 722,482, now Patent No. 2,998,627, dated Sept. 5, 1951. Divided and this application Feb. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 90,586

' 2 Claims. (Cl. 24227) This invention relates to fastening devices for connecting together overlapping edge or end portions of articles of Wearing apparel, and especially for detachably connecting the ends of a trouser waistband, said devices being of the kind comprising a member for securing to one part of the garment and having a tongue or plate which is detachably engageable with a staple, bar or eye member on another part of the garment.

This application is a division of patent application Serial No. 722,482, dated March 19, 1958, now Patent No. 2,998,627 issued September 5, 1961.

Heretofore the said member having the tongue or plate has usually been in the form of a hook consisting of a front tongue spaced from an integral base part by a distance sufiicient to receive the staple or the like, said base part being adapted to be secured to the garment, such as by clenched prongs on the base part or by prongs on a back plate applied behind the material of the garment. When such hooks are secured to the outer face of the garment, the thickness of the base part and the spacing of the front tongue from the base part, result in the said front tongue projecting considerably from the face of the garment, and the device is very liable to be crushed and permanently distorted in pressing operations.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved and simplified fastening device which can be made much shallower than can the usual hook type of fastener, so that when applied to the face of a garment the fastened ends or edges of the said garment can lie flatter and have a less bulky appearance, and which is not liable to be easily crushed.

According to the invention, a fastening device for wearing apparel comprises a flat front tongue adapted to be secured to the outer face of a garment, in combination with a back-plate adapted to be applied behind the material of the garment so as to lie behind the front tongue and to be secured to said tongue by means of clenchable prongs, the front tongue being provided with spacing means which, when the device is secured to a garment, is located beneath one end portion of the front tongue and in contact with the material of the garment and which elevates said tongue so as to form together with the associated back-plate the equivalent of a hook for engagement with a staple, bar or eye member, said spacing means also forming a stop intermediate the length of the front tongue for limiting inward movement of the staple or like co-operating member. The spacing means is contained substantially entirely beneath the front tongue and forms a surface for seating upon the garment material, the limits of which surface extend in the direction of the front tongue from one end thereof for a distance not greater than one third of the total length of the tongue.

Also, according to the invention a fastening device adapted to be secured to wearing apparel by means of clenchable prongs, comprises a flat plate forming a front tongue, one end portion of which plate is folded over on itself transversely so as to lie beneath one end of the front tongue substantially in contact therewith, thereby providing integral spacing means of less length than the front tongue adapted to lie in contact with the front face of the material of a garment when the device is attached thereto, and adapted to elevate the front tongue above 3,041,698 Patented July 3, 1962 the material so as to be engageable with a staple or like I member, the free edge of the folded-over portion also providing stop means intermediate thelength of the front tongue for limiting the inward movement of such staple or like member.

Also, according to the invention, a fastening device adapted to be secured to wearing apparel by means of clenc'nable prongs, comprises a flat plate forming a front tongue one end portion of which is provided with rearwardly-extending projecting parts which, when the device is secured to a garment, are adapted to seat upon the outer face of the material and to elevate the front tongue above the material so as to be engageable with a staple or like member, at least some of said projecting parts forming stop means disposed intermediate the length of the front tongue for limiting the inward movement of the staple or like member.

In one convenient form, the device consists of a plate or tongue one end portion of which is folded beneath the main portion to provide a double thickness which serves to elevate the opposite end portion above the face of the garment and also serves as a stop for the staple or the like. The folded part may carry prongs for attachment of the device.

In the accompanying drawing,

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of one form of fastening device in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the device of FIG- URE l.

FEGURE 3 is an underside perspective view of the device shown in FIGURE 1.

FEGURE 4 is a longitudinal section on line IV--IV, FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal section of the device shown in FIGURE 1 showing the device attached to one thickness of material of a garment.

FIGURE 6 is an underside plan view showing the associated back-plate when the device shown in FIGURE 1 is attached to material.

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of a sheet-metal blank from which the above fastening device shown in FIGURE 1 is formed. 4

, FIGURE 8 is an underside perspective view of a modilied form of fastening device.

FIGURE 9 is a plan view of a further modification.

FEGURE 10 is a longitudinal section on line X-X, FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 11 is an underside perspective view of the form of FIGURE 9.

Referring to the drawing, in each of the forms illustrated in FIGURES 1 to 11, the device comprises a plate or tongue one end portion of which carries integral attachment prongs and is folded to provide a double thickness for elevating the opposite end portion above the surface of the garment. More specifically, the device of FIGURES l to 7 is formed from a blank (FIGURE 7) consisting of a flat sheet-metal plate 1 of parallel-sided form with one end 2, called the front end, of rounded shape. The other or rear endportion 3 is slit longitudL nally at two points 4, 4, for a short distance to form a central pointed prong 5, whilst similar pointed prongs 6, 7, project integrally at opposite sides of the rear edge 8 of the plate 1. This prong-carrying rear end portion 3 of the plate 1 is doubled back and folded along a transverse line 9 passing through the root end of the central prong 5, so as to lie beneath and close to the lower face of the main portion of the plate 1, which main portion forms a front tongue 16 This folded-under rear portion 3 extends for about one-third the length of the main front tongue portion 141) of the plate, and the three prongs 5, 6, 7, thereon are bent dovwi at right-angles, thus providing one prong (5) at the middle of the rear end of the device and two prongs (6 and 7) situated at the forward edge of the bent-under part 3, one at each side;

The fastening device made as described above is intended to be attached, as shown in FIGURES and 6,

to the outer face of one end'of the trouser waistband 11,

' 7 are passed through the slots 12, they are clenched on to the face of the back-plate 13. Y a

The back-plate 13 maybe of any desired size, but preferablyit is of rectangular shape as shown, and it extends beneath thefront tongue 10 so as to form therewith the fequivalent of a hook and at the same time form a support for-the cloth. 7

The front tongue 10 is spaced from the face of the vwaistband 11 by a distance just sutficient to allow the staple or eye member on the other-end of the waistband to pass under it, and the forward end of the bent-under rear portion 3 of the device forms a stop for said staple or eye member, which cannot, therefore, pass between the said bent-under portion 3 and the front tongue 10 of the device.

Instead of the prongs being provided two along the transverse forward free edge of the folded portion 3, and one at the middle of the rear end of the device, as shown in FIGURE 8, two prongs 1-4, 15, may be situated respectively along the top and bottom edges of the folded portion 3 and one prong 16 along the forward free edge of the latter part. 7

In a further modification illustrated. in FIGURES 9 to 11, the prongs are disposed in the same relative positions as in the first-described form, but the one prong 5 which is at the rear end of the device is formed from out of .a longitudinal slot 17 in the front tongue 10 instead of being struck out of the metal of folded-over portion 3.

Instead of the prongs being on the front plate or tongue,

they may be on the back'plate, being passed through suit 40 2,778,082

able openings in the front plate or tongue and clenched.

I claim: t l. A sheet-metal fastening element co-operable with an eye member for connecting together overlapping parts of garment apparel, said element consisting of a fiat plate face of the garment material to elevate in the manner of a cantilever said front tongue by a height suitable for receiving the eye member, the forward transverse edge of said spacing plate forming an abutment stop having a height substantially equal to said height of elevation of the front tongue and disposed beneath the front tongue at alocation intermediate its length, whereby inward movement of the co-operating eye member for the entire length of the front tongue is prevented, at least two-thirds of the length of said front tongue projecting forward beyond said abutment stop to form a box-like space extending between the under surface of said front tongue and the garment material to which the element is at tached, said space being entirely open and unobstructed along three sides for receiving the eye member.

2. A sheet metal fastening element as claimed in claim 1, in combination with a back-plate for applying to the References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Stoughton 'Jan. 22, 1957 

